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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28974669">The Saga of Firja</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/StudentOfEtherium/pseuds/StudentOfEtherium'>StudentOfEtherium</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Magic: The Gathering (Card Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Folklore, Gen, Headcanon, Multiplicity/Plurality</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:07:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>644</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28974669</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/StudentOfEtherium/pseuds/StudentOfEtherium</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A retelling of one of Kaldheim's oldest sagas.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Saga of Firja</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Among the ten realms of Kaldheim, few races are older than the valkyries. They existed before the gods, and they see no reason to bow to them. The Skoti are not their masters, and only when their goals align do they work together.</p>
<p>Valkyries exist to judge the dying and the dead. They elevate the honorable, those who lived worthy and courageous lives, to Starnheim. The warriors of Kaldheim live their lives for this privilege, seeking the heavenly grace of the valkyrie who greets them in the end. However, valkyries travel in pairs. While one seeks to honor the worthy, the other seeks to smite the cowardly. If a warrior dies, then the valkyries must agree to their fate, whether they are granted an eternity in the blessed halls of Starnheim or cursed to wander the desolate lands of Istfell until they simply fade from existence.</p>
<p>The choices a valkyrie makes are simple. Justice is felled swiftly and without hesitation. The two valkyries, one of white wings and one of black, will rarely disagree, letting whoever is needed do their task.</p>
<p>The pair of Frija and Amund were sent to judge a man who ran away in battle. In many such cases, the black-winged reaper would intervene and smite the warrior, rather than let them live to bring more shame upon themselves. However, in this moment, Frija intervened. While Amund sought to end the man’s life, she saw a vision. His cowardice would lead him forward in life, to live past his failings. While a coward now, in time he would find himself becoming a mighty warrior worthy of the gods. </p>
<p>The two argued, but Amund refused. Instead of heading the words of his partner, he attempted to end the life of the coward, to not just smite them, but to brand their spirit so their cowardice was clear to all. In the moment, Frija intervened. What she saw couldn't be ignored. She had to spare the mortal’s life. The only way to do so was to strike her companion down. In an instant, it was done. Amund was no more.</p>
<p>The coward, unaware of the momentous event that he had spurned, continued running. As Firja saw, he would one day live back his cowardice. Never again did he display fear in battle and by the time his death finally came, he had brought much honor and wealth to his clan.</p>
<p>Things weren't so simple with Frija. No other valkyrie had struck down their partner’s life before. As she held his dying body, however, she found his essence being absorbed into hers. A second pair of wings, black like a reaper, appeared below her white shepherd wings. Her act, unprecedented and never to be repeated, left its mark on her body. All who gazed upon her understood what it meant. Quickly, the saga of her actions spread across the realm, and became among Kaldheim’s most known tales.</p>
<p>And that's where the story ends for most. Frija says little on the topic, as valkyries aren't known for conversation. Thus, the truth of what happened that day is known to few but the wisest Cosmos monsters. It's a tale unknown even to but a few of the Skoti.</p>
<p>As Frija absorbed Amund’s essence, the wings of a reaper were not the only change. Now, he lives inside her, two valkyries within a single body. As any other, they travel Kaldheim seeking to enact justice on the dying. To them, little has changed. Judgement must be passed on cowards and the brave alike and each has their role to fill. Perhaps it is easier now that their actions cannot contradict, being a pair whose actions cannot overlap. Never again has such an argument come to pass, and perhaps the two are even more in harmony than before, and more than any other pair of shepherd and reaper.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>i read Frija's lore in the Kaldheim legendary creatures article and had this idea and i knew i had to make it a reality</p></blockquote></div></div>
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